Carry On Collection - Have they stopped?

[filmlover22]

I just recently discovered that Studio Canal released 4 Carry On movies on Bluray in the UK back in 2014.

I can't seem to find any other releases. Weren't these movies very popular in the UK?

Maybe Indicator could release these in some box sets?

Anybody know what is going on with these?

[ste71]

Originally Posted by filmlover22

I just recently discovered that Studio Canal released 4 Carry On movies on Bluray in the UK back in 2014.

I can't seem to find any other releases. Weren't these movies very popular in the UK?

Maybe Indicator could release these in some box sets?

Anybody know what is going on with these?

Yeah sadly. Studio Canal own the rights from 'Sergeant' to 'Screaming', the rest are with ITV.

I have Carry On Cleo and the transfer is very good in my opinion, possibly they didn't sell all that well. Big shame, I would have spent some serous money on Blu's of all the Carry On's.

[The Hornets]

Some more but not all of the remaining films have been upgraded to HD but they are exclusive to the Britbox streaming service.

Both SC and ITV don’t see these as economic to release on BD. I guess the problem is very few would be willing to pay the £100+ they would want for a complete boxset.

Most seem happy with the DVD boxset as it’s cheap, even though some of those transfers are ancient being letterboxed widescreen and not even anamorphic.

[ste71]

Originally Posted by The Hornets

Some more but not all of the remaining films have been upgraded to HD but they are exclusive to the Britbox streaming service.

Both SC and ITV don’t see these as economic to release on BD. I guess the problem is very few would be willing to pay the £100+ they would want for a complete boxset.

Most seem happy with the DVD boxset as it’s cheap, even though some of those transfers are ancient being letterboxed widescreen and not even anamorphic.

One of the best, Carry on up the Khyber is non-anamorphic.

[CompleteCount]

The chances of a box-set of them all coming out is almost nil. Aside from the ones on Blu in the UK, HD masters currently exist for Carry on Camping and Carry On Up the Khyber - both exclusively restored for streaming service Britbox.

But recently, HD masters of Nurse, Cruising. Spying & Teacher turned up on Sky Cinema (UK). The sum of all these masters amount to less than half of them, with couple of the series not even available in widescreen, as well as existing on (possibly) 30-40 year old transfers.

The titles already out there are the more popular ones from Anglo-Amalgamated, before everything was sold and ownership became complicated. Britbox probably restored Khyber as it made the top 100 British films list, and renders it as a stand-alone look at times past. Other films they are eyeing up include The 39 Steps, which seems to point to them only working on British films of some importance. As for Camping, it's the archetypal Carry On film, being the go-to for the series and a logical selection for HD restoration.

During the production of the series, the rights passed between a couple of companies (Carry On Emmanuelle was made by Hemdale!), and it's likely that some of the original elements haven't survived the transition - Henry, Convenience (aka Round the Bend) and Follow that Camel are 4:3 and pretty ropey-looking) and even if they were repairable, the expense in doing so (or even just brushing them up and transferring) to sell to a rapidly shrinking market - for both physical media and the drastically changing political landscape - renders a complete set moot. To say nothing of the legal minefield with Carry On Columbus, leaving it not even officially released on DVD, a grey-area Australian one about the only option.

I'd love to have the entire collection in HD on my shelf (yes, even Columbus...) but chances of it coming out are about the same as anything coming from Mars.

[filmlover22]

wow! thank you all for the input. Very sad, though. I really enjoyed these. If Indicator can release the Stanley Long box set (which I understand is in a similar vein to Carry On), then I was hoping for these to be released.

Who knows? I will keep hoping.

Then again, I keep hoping for Hellraiser Bloodline: Director's Cut in HD, which is about as likely as seeing a Carry On set.

And Secret Agent/Danger Man set..

And....

[The Hornets]

Originally Posted by filmlover22

wow! thank you all for the input. Very sad, though. I really enjoyed these. If Indicator can release the Stanley Long box set (which I understand is in a similar vein to Carry On), then I was hoping for these to be released.

Who knows? I will keep hoping.

Then again, I keep hoping for Hellraiser Bloodline: Director's Cut in HD, which is about as likely as seeing a Carry On set.

And Secret Agent/Danger Man set..

And....

That probably came out as the HD restoration was by Screenbound the rights owner who also did the excellent Mary Millington BD boxset.

Obviously they see value in HD masters of their soft core sex comedies.

Sony don’t seem to, as they are sitting on the much more marketable and popular Confessions films. Think they were even happy for the DVD set to go OOP.

The Carry Ons were much tamer than the Adventure or Confession films. More nudge nudge wink wink and smutty innuendo. Was only the later films like England and Emmanuelle where you got nudity but that was because by then they were competing at the cinema with those afore mentioned sex comedies so they felt they needed the tits and arse. Even one of the On the Buses films had a topless scene just for the titillation.

[drush9999]

Originally Posted by ste71

One of the best, Carry on up the Khyber is non-anamorphic.

7 of the main series are non-anamorphic on DVD. At least That's Carry On got an anamorphic release in R1 land.

I'm sure there's enough interest out there to justify them all getting BD releases.

[ste71]

Originally Posted by drush9999

7 of the main series are non-anamorphic on DVD. At least That's Carry On got an anamorphic release in R1 land.

I'm sure there's enough interest out there to justify them all getting BD releases.

If not all of them, Khyber, Abroad, Don't lose your head should definitely get a Blu release.

[Aclea]

Netwrk are the closest to a realistic prospect with Indicator a longshot. Either would probably have to split them into at least two sets (Indicator probably six or seven). The TV shows would be unlikely to make it to blu and Carry On Columbus has never had a legal DVD release but may well have to be done separately because of rights issues. But until ITV and SC do HD masters of all their titles, I don't see any label paying for that many new masters on titles that are constantly on UK TV and are pretty much regarded as budget titles by the majority of the market.

[McCrutchy]

The extent of Carry on... on Blu-ray so far:



Unfortunately, I don't think Canal did the series any favors. They seem to have started with Screaming in October 2013, but then the next release, Cleo, didn't come until May 2014, seven months later. The last two followed that June and July, but I don't ever remember any press for these releases beyond a few site reviews. There are actually a handful of threads about the four releases, like here and here, as well as on other UK forums. Strangely, for years before the pandemic, Amazon refused to ship these and locked them out to my US address, something they also did / do with Canal's BD of The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society:



I was never able to figure out why only these five releases were ever restricted, but they rarely came up for me when browsing Amazon and when they did pop up on the site here (perhaps on sale), I would click through only to be reminded when I landed at Amazon that I couldn't partake.

Ironically, I put all four in my latest Deff order, which should be shipping out next week, so I will finally have them.

I think Canal should do Khyber and Camping at least now, as I suspect they would sell better than the above four and better than they would have in 2014, thanks to more support for Canal's catalogue strands in recent years.

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by McCrutchy

I think Canal should do Khyber and Camping at least now, as I suspect they would sell better than the above four and better than they would have in 2014, thanks to more support for Canal's catalogue strands in recent years.

Those are owned by ITV, as are all of the series from Don't Lose Your Head to Emmanuelle and That's Carry On. As the two biggest hits of the series and the two biggest films of their year from any source at the UK box office, it is amazing they haven't been upgraded.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by Aclea

Those are owned by ITV, as are all of the series from Don't Lose Your Head to Emmanuelle and That's Carry On. As the two biggest hits of the series and the two biggest films of their year from any source at the UK box office, it is amazing they haven't been upgraded.

That explains it though, because ITV suck at Blu-ray, so much so that they make the BBC look like the Criterion Collection by comparison. I'm still amazed ITV did all of Victoria and the new Poldark, along with Bodyguard, which I don't expect will continue on the format beyond the first series.

[CompleteCount]

The Missus and I just watched Carry On Matron, today being the exact 50th anniversary of its release. It's great when your wife was also brought up on the series!

Originally Posted by Aclea

The TV shows would be unlikely to make it to blu and Carry On Columbus has never had a legal DVD release but may well have to be done separately because of rights issues.

Most would assume that because Carry On Columbus was distributed theatrically by United Artists in the UK(!) and Warner Home Video(!!) for VHS, there would be no problem with it being released at the very least on DVD, but it really isn't that simple. The problem was that it was produced by the short-lived Island World company, which went bust 4 years later. The rights to their work have been all over the place, and could explain why all copies (rental, retail, TV, etc) have come from exactly the same 4:3 tape master, rather than anyone being able to strike new ones.

OK, Carry On Columbus is crap, but rather sad that the only way most are going to get to watch a physical copy is through the dubious copy below, again taken from the very same VHS master...

columbus.jpg

[Aclea]

It was actually United International Pictures (the successor to Cinema International Corporation) who had UK theatrical: although primarily Paramount and Universal in the UK, they did occasionally pick up indies for distribution.

I wouldn't be surprised if Warner's deal was just VHS rights - it's from the period before all home video formats including formats yet to be invented contracts were commonplace, though it may simply have been a seven year deal that expired just as DVD took off and the rights were too complicated to renew (as it is it didn't hit retail VHS in the UK until early 1994). I'm surprised it's never turned up as a legit DVD release anywhere: when that happens to a marketable film (ie Zulu Dawn for 20 odd years) it's usually because the creditors or bank want the buyer to discharge all debts and fees or the rights holder is asking equally crazy money.

[CouncilSpectre]

Park Circus says MGM worldwide for Columbus….

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by CouncilSpectre

Park Circus says MGM worldwide for Columbus….

That may be a comparatively recent acquisition of an entire library. I know some no longer in business labels (Mosaic or their DVD equivalent springs to mind) looked into getting it for DVD in the past but never got anywhere and it's hard to believe MGM wouldn't have given it a release in the gold rush days of DVD if they had it when they were flooding the UK market with back catalogue titles..

(Checking the VHS sleeve, Warners got it via Island World rather than through their MGM/UA distribution deal.)

[Gizz]

I remember seeing Carry on Columbus on Talking Pictures on Freeview a couple of weeks ago looked dreadful. I used to own it on VHS bought it from the rental shop for £8 back in the day.

[CompleteCount]

Originally Posted by Gizz

I remember seeing Carry on Columbus on Talking Pictures on Freeview a couple of weeks ago looked dreadful. I used to own it on VHS bought it from the rental shop for £8 back in the day.

Yep, all from the same crappy copy.

As most will know, it was one of three films put into production for the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America, along with 1942: Conquest of Paradise (the Ridley Scott one) and Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (the one with Brando). What most people won't know - and not sure what it says about the British audiences - is that Carry On Columbus was the most successful at the UK box-office, in spite of being crap and the reviews (more) scathing (than usual).

[Killer Meteor]

Originally Posted by Aclea

Those are owned by ITV, as are all of the series from Don't Lose Your Head to Emmanuelle and That's Carry On. As the two biggest hits of the series and the two biggest films of their year from any source at the UK box office, it is amazing they haven't been upgraded.

Kyber had a little help...